‘I Now, I Then’, the first part of Wayne McGregor’s ballet triptych Woolf Works, draws on one ofVirginia Woolf’s best-loved novels, Mrs Dalloway. Paring the work back to its essentials, the ballet vividly evokes the author’s ‘psychological realism’ by blurring past and present, merging thoughts with reality and enmeshing Woolf’s own life with those of her protagonists.

One way in which McGregor echoes this layered, stream-of-consciousness style is to present several characters simultaneously, exploiting dance’s capacity for them to ‘speak’ all at once. Alessandra Ferri embodies both Virginia Woolf and her creation Clarissa Dalloway, McGregor taking full advantage of her unique qualities as a dance-actor to inhabit the entangled inner worlds of these two women. McGregor also introduces a young Clarissa figure (created by Beatriz Stix-Brunell), with choreography that weaves together her perspective and Ferri’s in a powerful visual interpretation of one of the novel’s key themes.

A poignant moment of reflection catches Clarissa recalling her youthful relationships. Alone, she pauses as the memory of her younger self appears. Time and perspective seem to shift as this figure walks slowly past before launching into a flurry of spontaneous movement. As Clarissa – or Woolf herself? – stands by, young Clarissa is joined by a man (created by Federico Bonelli); perhaps a memory of Woolf’s character, Peter, who constantly invades the protagonist’s memories in Mrs Dalloway:

in the streets of London, on the ebb and flow of things, here, there, she survived, Peter survived, lived in each other"

In the ensuing pas de deux between the young lovers, McGregor’s lyrical, expressive choreographic language conjures nuances of their relationship. Elements of their movement recall McGregor’s powerful signature style – rippling torsos, distorted positions, flexed feet. But these distinctive movements
are presented within a more intimate, classical vocabulary. Their partnerwork – Peter sweeping young Clarissa across the floor on pointe, and off her feet in a series of lifts – even recalls giddy moments of young love in Kenneth MacMillan’s choreography, in such ballets as Romeo and Juliet,Manon and Mayerling. But amid this ecstatic flow of movement, young Clarissa pauses wistfully, frozen in simple classical positions, as if distracted by thoughts of – something? Someone? Gradually, a ticking clock that has pervaded Max Richter’s yearning score almost without us noticing, comes to the foreground, getting louder and louder until we hear the chime of Big Ben…

The sound of Big Ben striking the half-hour struck out between them with extraordinary vigour"

As Peter spins off to one side, Clarissa watches after him nostalgically. Then, suddenly, her wistful look changes to one of rapture as on runs a lithe, dainty figure dressed in pink gauze – the novel’s young Sally Seton (created by Francesca Hayward). Young Clarissa and Sally dance together, at first in an innocent, almost childlike canon, filled with fleet, buoyant footwork. In this memory, young Clarissa is clearly mesmerized by Sally, watching and following her in awe until, breaking out of their canon, their movements come together in unison and they clasp hands, exchanging the briefest of kisses.

Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down!"

Remembering this moment, older Clarissa rises. As the two girls continue to dance together – their arms and épaulement as expressive as a conversation – the gentle sensuality hinted at in their earlier choreography builds. They approach each other in a moment of tenderness, just as older Clarissa reaches them. Suddenly, the music that has been building to an ecstatic climax stops, the lights drop and bells chime. Once again we feel ourselves spun through time, the boundary between now and then, reality and fiction blurred even further as Ferri’s character – perhaps older Clarissa, or Woolf herself – melts to the floor with Sally, stealing a lingering kiss.

The Royal Ballet welcomes seven dancers to the Company for the 2016/17 Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme. The programme provides an opportunity for recently graduated dancers to receive a year’s contract to work alongside the corps de ballet of The Royal Ballet. In addition the dancers are offered mentoring and coaching and have the opportunity to perform with the Company. Next Season’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers are Estelle Bovay, Maria Castillo Yoshida, Arianna Maldini, Giacomo Rovero, Francisco Serrano and Charlotte Tonkinson, all from The Royal Ballet School.

'I covered the role when it first premiered a few years ago', she says. 'I remember at the end of the run, Wayne said to me, "Next time you'll give it a go". Of course I was immediately excited.'

The New York City-born dancer has found it fascinating to work with McGregor: 'It's almost like a mathematical equation when you're working in the studio with him. His mind works in shapes - there are patterns of geometry, inversing, reversing, counting backwards, and going in different directions.'

'Throughout the day I refer to little sections from the book so that I can visualize the story. They're beautiful illustrations.'

Typically for a McGregor work, Raven Girl places strong demands on its performers, particularly in the final few minutes:

'The pas de deux at the end of the ballet is very strenuous', says Beatriz. 'It's seven-and-a-half minutes of lifting and running around with one another. It's the culmination of her happiness - she's found her soul-mate, the person that she knows that she can be herself with. This is when we finally see her as the person she wants to be.'

The next chance to see work by Christopher on the ROH stage is the one-act ballet Fool's Paradise in November. Other works by Wheeldon coming up in the 2012/13 season include an as yet untitled new commission (22 February - 14 March, in a triple bill with new works by Alexei Ratmansky and George Balanchine's Apollo) and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (15 March - 13 April).

Three different creative teams formed by a contemporary artist, a composer plus a pair or a trio of choreographers have produced three brand new dance pieces in response to the Titian paintings currently on display at the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing: Diana and Callisto depicting the moment where the chaste goddess is shocked to discover the pregnancy of the most beautiful of her nymphs, Callisto, Diana and Actaeon in which the young hunter intrudes upon the bathing Diana, and The Death of Actaeon where the hunter - turned into a stag by the revengeful goddess - is torn to pieces by his own hounds.

Considered among Titian's greatest works, these large canvasses are the painter’s own creative response to Ovid’s poems, Metamorphoses, and they are the best starting point in order to understand what now motivates each of these three creative teams:

Abstraction

The first work by Wayne McGregor and Kim Brandstrup, Machina, eschews narrative in favour of suggestion and minimalism. Extreme angular shapes by the dancers, a baroque-influenced score by Nico Muhly and a high-tech concept by artist Conrad Shawcross. Known for his structural and mechanical montages, Shawcross has distilled the essence of Titian’s main character in his “Diana-robot”. The machine takes centre stage, sometimes vulnerable, but mostly dominant: Diana as a huntress on the look out for her next target.

Symbol

In Trespass we see the symbols from Titian’s paintings come to life. Mark Wallinger has put his artistic focus on the crescent moon headdress worn by Diana in two of the paintings, as well as on the peculiar juxtaposition of Diana/Actaeon across Titian’s canvasses. Diana is goddess of the hunt but also of the moon, thus the idea of celestial bodies, the suggestion of man exploring and trespassing, with a nod to the Apollo mission. With a thrilling score by Mark-Anthony Turnage and a set that provides a 180-degree viewpoint for audiences (thanks to Wallinger’s giant curved mirror), Alastair Marriott and Christopher Wheeldon have created for dancers Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae, Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Nehemiah Kish and Melissa Hamilton solos and duos of exquisite shapes (spot the crescent moon-shaped lift) that often recall antique sculpture.

Feeling

Dance is an ideal medium for fleshing out emotion. While in Titian’s paintings we can only imagine Diana’s outrage at being discovered naked by the hunter Actaeon, on stage choreographers can attempt to translate those feelings into steps. Against the exotic and colourful landscape designed by Chris Ofili, Will Tuckett, Liam Scarlett and Jonathan Watkins examine the focal narrative point in Titian's work and explore this encounter between “Diana and Actaeon” from three different angles: surprise, outrage, anger, fear, threat and desire are suggested in the three pas de deux danced by Royal Ballet principals Marianela Nuñez and Federico Bonelli.

These three works, brimming with creativity and personality have much to offer to art lovers. Machina might appeal to those who admire contemporary dance, Trespass has a distinctive neoclassical flavour, while Diana and Actaeon will appeal to story-ballet lovers. All in all, this is a wonderful opportunity to see a cross-collaborative project come alive, a unique event in the London 2012 Festival calendar.